sponsored by Jill at Breaking the Spine (details)
I'm waiting for...
by Cindy Anstey
-Historical, Romance, YA
Release date: April 19, 2016
Amazon | Goodreads -giveaway for this ends March 29
Juliana Telford is not your average nineteenth-century young lady. She’s much more interested in researching ladybugs than marriage, fashionable dresses, or dances. So when her father sends her to London for a season, she’s determined not to form any attachments. Instead, she plans to secretly publish their research.
Spencer Northam is not the average young gentleman of leisure he appears. He is actually a spy for the War Office, and is more focused on acing his first mission than meeting eligible ladies.
Fortunately, Juliana feels the same, and they agree to pretend to fall for each other. Spencer can finally focus, until he is tasked with observing Juliana’s traveling companions... and Juliana herself.
=====> I love the whimsical cover art. This looks like a fun action packed read with flickers of cute romance, just right for Spring time ;-)
Excerpt interview: from Swoon Reads (here)
Where did the idea for Love, Lies & Spies come from?
Research is the lifeblood of all my plots — I love finding something obscure and playing the game of ‘what if’. The seed of Love, Lies & Spies was planted when I learned that smugglers and spies were in cahoots during the Regency period.
What draws you to the Regency era?
The Regency period is full of wonderful contradictions; a time where appearances and manners are of the utmost importance, even to those who readily flout convention. Elegance, luxury and frivolity kept the Beau Monde world turning. Their shenanigans — real and imagined — provide excellent fodder for my sense of the ridiculous.
Read the complete interview (here).
Based on book aesthetics...
As a historical novel, the characters of Love, Lies and Spies rely on carriages to travel to and fro, from the cliffs of St Ives Head (where Juliana and Spencer meet in the most untoward manner) to Georgian London, a city of elegant townhouses and fascinating sights. Working for the War Office to stymie Napoleon, Spencer’s duties are represented by a Fleur-de-Lis while a regency gown symbolizes Juliana. It was great fun to pull the photos from my own files. —Cindy Anstey
- from Swoon Reads (here)
